


You who've been travelling so long

by Adarian



Series: History of Middle Earth AUs and Explorations [3]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:11:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9686363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adarian/pseuds/Adarian
Summary: Idis, daughter of Theoden, loses the love of her life early in the War of the Ring. When she and her surrogate daughter Eowyn attempt to bring her lover's body home, Idis falls and is knocked out. She receives a vision from Nienna who offers her knowledge of what is to come in exchange for her voice. Through the years, Idis dreams of the Ainu and the goddess and the mortal fall in love.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm reading HOME right now and all the Lord of the Ring bits are amazing. I love it so much. My girl Idis appears in Treason of Isengard for like two lines in Tolkien's summary of what he wants to happen in Two Towers. She's Theoden's other kid and basically hangs out silently in the back while Eowyn runs the show. She doesn't even get written in a draft because Tolkien figured Eowyn needed more space to be Eowyn. But I thought this was the coolest thing and wanted to give her a story. And Nienna's single, so....

It was Idis who raised Eomer and Eowyn when they came to Theoden's house. She was 25 then and the children only 12 and 7. Her father was preoccupied with the country and her twin brother with the armies. So young Idis took them both into her heart and raised them as if they were her very own. 

Idis was not married then nor would she for many years. That did not mean there was not love in her life. Since she were but a maid of 16, Idis loved the shieldmaiden Annis who rode with the Rohirrim alongside her beloved twin brother. Their relationship was no secret and her family adored Annis, particularly young Eowyn who idolized her. Annis and Idis did not live as wives but loved each other and held each other sacred for twenty years. 

In the year 3014 of the Third Age, shortly after Eowyn's 19th birthday, Annis led a patrol to the western border with Isengard. Five days later, the sole survivor of her party returned to Edoras, collapsing in front of Theoden. He spoke of an army of orcs, of fires beneath the great tower. The patrol was slain by armored orcs, all baring the symbol of a white hand. 

Theoden had been ill for so time already and his advisor Wormtongue persuaded him that the report was false, the imaginations of a poor young man subjected to the terrible slaughter of his fellow riders. Theodred protested at first, but conceded to his father and agreed to send no troops to the west.

Idis was broken. She wanted to cry for an eternity. She wanted to hold her love again, wanted to smell the sweetness of her skin and brush through her hair. She did not want to live in a world without her. 

Even though the Rohirrim had been forbidden to go, Idis readied a horse and meant to travel to Isengard to find Annis' body and to bring her home. Eowyn found her in the stables and begged to go with her. She knew that Eowyn too mourned both the death of a beloved mentor but of her own dream of riding alongside her brother and cousin. So Idis agreed.

The pair rode for near two days, stopping only when necessary to eat and rest. Idis was not as strong a horsewoman as Eowyn, but she managed to find the glen the survivor had mentioned. Yet there were no bodies. Their armour was gone. All that were left were their bones and the grass red with their blood. 

Idis screamed and rushed over to the site. She knelt, sobbing.

Eowyn heard something rustling in the bushes. "Beloved, we must go."

Idis refused to move, digging through the remains to find anything to bring back home. She had come to bury Annis. She would do so. She needed to do so.

Eowyn pleaded, "More orcs may come. We need to leave."

If it were not for her love of Eowyn, Idis would not have gone. She would have let the orcs take her and rip her to pieces as they had Annis. It was only fear for Eowyn's safety that she slowly rose to her feet. She heard the war cries and she knew that they had little time. 

She mounted her horse and signaled it to run. They fled towards Edoras before the orcs could find them. Yet once they were out of danger, Idis' horse was frightened by a snake and tossed her. Idis fell, her head smacking against a stone. She heard Eowyn cry for her as everything went black. 

In her dreams, an ethereally beautiful woman stepped towards Idis, her dainty feet gentle on the broken grass. She wore a plain grey dress and cloak, the hood covering most of her hair. She looked up, her sea green eyes tinged with red from crying. Her skin was dark and her black hair coiled into tight curls. 

She knelt before Idis, who struggled to her own knees to face her. 

With a voice of pure honey, the woman murmured, "You grieve."

Idis whispered, "The woman I love is dead and my heart dies with her. She has died for nothing. She was slain and butchered for nothing. Yes, I grieve. I howl like a wolf. I will not quiet my mourning for another, not for a false peace. Annis is dead and war breathes down our neck. There is no peace now, not with my brother and son as soldiers, not with my father dying and my daughter's spirit dying with him. My family will break; my country will fall into ruin. There is so much death I feel like I cannot breathe."

The woman touched her face. "I feel your pain, dearest Idis. I grieve for your love as if I had spent those years in her arms and I grieve what is to come for you. Of the four you love most, half will perish and I do not know if your heart is strong enough to survive it. Not as you are, not without hope." 

"I die as we speak," Idis confessed. "I cannot bear another loss." 

Idis' eyes met hers as the stranger said, "I can tell you what happens next, Idis. I can tell you where you go from here. It could give you strength or hold your doom. But I can give this gift to you, as one mourner from another. I can tell you of the War of the Ring. Who lives, who dies, and what trials your dear children will suffer through it. I can tell you all, but if I do, there is a price."

"Name it," Idis insisted.

"If you gain this knowledge, you will lose the ability to share it. Your voice will fade and leave you mute. Never to speak again. Your hands will shake and never again will you hold a quill or embroidery needle. You will be silent, watching, unable to warn or to advise until the day you die. But you will know and perhaps that certainty will allow you to survive."

Idis agreed. "Tell me of the War of the Ring."

And the stranger sang to her a deep and profoundly heartbreaking melody. All was shared with no detail amiss. The death of Theodred, the betrayal of Wormtongue, of the exile of Eomer, and of the battle of Pelennor Fields. Then the crowning of her son and the marriage of her daughter to her true love. There would be great suffering, but there would be joy. Lovers would meet, children born, homes rebuilt, friends reunited. Rohan would survive and thrive and it would know such peace. Idis would live to see it all and to see her grandchildren in her arms. There was hope.

Idis sobbed, whispering her thanks. The stranger held her tight, cradling her head. 

"You must wake, dearest Idis," she murmured, "but we will see each other again. When your eyes open, you will feel lighter and the air will be sweeter. I will mourn with you and share your burdens so you can breathe again. Goodbye, beloved."

Idis woke to find Eowyn kneeling beside her, pleading for her to wake.

"Are you all right?" Eowyn begged. 

Idis put up a trembling hand. She tried to say that she was fine, but no words came from her. She smiled and nodded.

Eowyn embraced her. "I was so afraid."

Idis rubbed her back, knowing she would never be able to truly comfort her as she could before. But she was there and she would remain there for her dear Eowyn for as long as she was able. 

For the next five years of her life, Idis did not speak. She could not write or sign. She could nod or shake her head, but otherwise she was mute. She watched as the War broke, unable to say anything to protect her brother from his death or her son from his exile. She traveled to Helm's Deep and watched as her people were slain protecting what remained of Rohan. Throughout it, she suffered in silence, clinging on to the hope promised to her, knowing that one day there would be peace.

In her dreams, she saw the Halls of Awaiting. She walked upon the cold stone barefoot, passing many elves dressed in grey. They bowed their heads briefly before continuing in their constant prayer.

She reached a balcony overlooking a great harbour. The woman stood waiting for her, her hand outstretched. Nienna. The Weeper. The lady of grief, the lady of mercy. The Ainu who reached out and comforted her. Every night, Idis would see Nienna and feel her sorrow with her. Their sadness was tied together so strongly that it was if they shared the same heart. Idis fell in love with her in their silence together. It was a doomed love but it was born of the same seed of hope that Nienna had planted in her so long ago. 

When the War was over, all was as Nienna had promised. Eowyn married and gave birth to a son Elboron. Eomer became King of Rohan, married, and also had a son. She held both of them in her arms and was grateful for her children's happiness.

Years later when her heart was full of love, Nienna's greatest student Olórin, known to the common people as Gandalf, came to Edoras. He said to her that there was a ship going to Valinor and that Nienna requested her to go with him. She would leave everything she had behind, but she could spend her remaining years with the woman she loved.

So at 44 years old, the unmarried princess of Rohan left her palace and followed an old wizard into the west. She sailed across the seas and was brought to the Halls of Awaiting. Nienna's song changed for a moment and she laughed with joy upon Idis' arrival. 

It is said that year in Middle-Earth all children were born healthy and with a smile. All who married were happy and died in their old age surrounded by those who loved them most. Nienna took the mortal Idis for her bride and for the eighty years that Idis lived, Nienna only sang with joy.


End file.
